Time for the inner child to come out of me & go & see the live action version of The Lion King.

The Lion King when it originally came out too many years ago always holds a special place with me. My sister had just been born so my mum stayed at home & looked after her & Dad drove me to the marina in the evening to see it. So when it came to this one i was so keen to get at least Dad on bored to treat me to it. Unfortunately neither parent was that bothered by seeing it as live action so i went on my own. Do feel a little meh about that, but i do understand why.

I then also as a small child drew my Granddad a picture of The Lion King which he kept on his noticeboard, until about 3 weeks ago, because 5 weeks ago he passed away, so i wanted it back. Here is said drawing.

I am still very proud of said drawing & the fact my Granddad now has a mention on this blog he will be very happy with, where ever he is now. Miss You 🙁

Also a childhood memory from this film my sister was scared of the opening noise & sunrise so used to ask my dad to go to the allotments when i wanted to watch the film. She still mentions that even to this day.

right lets get to it. 6pm screen 1 on the first tuesday of the summer holidays. Toooooooooooooo many kids or teenagers being dicks or just talking or jumping around. Fuck off. I’ve waited to see this be redone before you were even born. Safe to say the cinema was pretty pack id say about 250 of the 350 they can put in there.

Trailers we had were the new one for Cats which just looks creepy, Angry Birds 2 no thanks, Downton Abbey, Some weird dog film about racing & then the Rise of Skywalker which the whole cinema fell silent for, it really did. It looks soooooooooooooo good & i cant wait.

& then the film started… but before it started we actually had the retro disney castle like it was back in the 90s but made new so it was all pix-elated & the Tinkerbell didnt fly properly it was so good for the nostalgia. & it just kept going from that point on wards.

Lets talk about this films main problem first shall we & its not Beyonce either… its the fact that the original was perfection. It really is. It is a masterclass & just makes you go awwwwwwwwwwwwww all the time well except but we will get to that. So to improve on it by redoing it was always going to be hard & there was always going to be people going oh it add nothing more to it or its not like the first. However it did its best it really did & if the first one hadnt came before we would all be marvelling at this. We really really would . So stop giving it a hard time people. The new scenes which explained certain bits & the re do of some of the songs & the new ones had their place & stood up to the original.

Second problem its hard to get human emotions through cgi motion capture onto actual lions. I wanted a bit more from it at stages. Joy yes, pain yes, sadness didnt capture it.

I cried 3 times & welled up once. The first one was just watching the opening & seeing it actually all be done like that frame for frame perfect to the original. I was just sitting there going wow what an amazing vista this is.

Second well we all cry at the Second i was gone from when Simba yelled Dad as he fell back in before making the climb. That really hurt 25 years of prep for that film really didnt get me ready for that moment. No amount of prep for that somebody anybody help can be done.

The third was the hakkuna matta montage as he grows up. & i welled up as he walks up pride rock, i think that was more because it was over & it was a relief that it had been so good & i was so proud.

The reflection in the river was stunning art work it really was. I think that moment will be talked about for years to come. Same with the slow mo fight that disney did for the first time in animation all those years ago. How that had improved to now show every lion hair moving was just mesmerising.

Baby Pumbaa was so cute. Seth Rogan stole the show if im honest, he had the best lines & just nailed it. Timon worked so well with him as well. Especially there lines when Glover is going off piece at the end of the song, & they go where does he think this is America? I full on laughed at that think noone else in my screen did it made me chuckle. John Oliver as well considering the mans not an actor at all was amazing as Zazu.

Most of the script & set out was exactly the same as the original. I mean timon did hula but what he did was fitting instead & the odd line changes were so with the now & made a point. However they did leave out my favourite line of the entire film i believe. I am Surrounded by Idiots. I do believe scar doesnt utter that.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight is always a firm favourite here & it brought more life to it. I loved it.

Every single second of it was made with love & to do the best they could & to keep it as true to the original as they could.

There is no denying this is one of the films of the year, absolutely. If this had come first everyone would be talking about it 24/7 & it would be an instant classic, but as i said earlier its hard to improve on perfection isnt it.

But disney & Mr Favreau had a bloody good go at it & im thankful that they did. Thankyou for making me feel like a 5 year old again. That was just fabulous.